MARTOLI, India (AP) — Dozens of dilapidated stone buildings are what is left of the once-thriving border village of Martoli, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. Nestled in Johar Valley and surrounded by Himalayan peaks — the most notable being Nanda Devi, once considered the tallest mountain in the world — this village had traded sugar, lentils, spices and cloth for salt and wool with Tibetans across the border.

The nomadic occupants of several villages spent the winter months in the plains collecting goods to be traded with Tibetans in the summer. But the border was sealed after an armed conflict between India and China in 1962, disrupting life in the high villages and leaving people with little incentive to return.

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